


The Flu Hits Like A Truck

by Cojiko



Series: The Krillin Rare-Pair Melting Pot [6]
Category: Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z
Genre: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But this summer, Comfort, Dreams and Nightmares, Established Krillin/Yamcha, Established Relationship, Fever, Fever Dreams, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Sex, Influenza, Krillin has an overall crappy time, M/M, Mentions of alcohol, Nausea, Night Terrors, Nightmares, Sick Character, Sick Krillin, Sickfic, Yamcha is trying to help, Yamcha stars as Captain Obvious, fluff and comfort, off-screen sexy times
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-04 08:42:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20468207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cojiko/pseuds/Cojiko
Summary: Krillin gets a bad case of the flu and it goes about as well as you'd expect.





	1. Chapter 1

For the past couple of days, Krillin felt that something was a just bit _off_ about him. This wasn’t your ordinary kind of off either, like an apple tasting weird or getting a weird smell stuck in your nose. The short man could feel it in his bones that something inside him felt…_wrong_ in some way.

At first, it was nothing more than simple tiredness in the morning. Krillin thought that was just natural, considering he and Yamcha had a healthy relationship in bed. I mean, who else besides Sayains aren’t worn down by special late-night activities? Just meant he needed to focus a bit more on normal sleeping for a while.

Then came the light-headedness and the martial artist couldn’t really place a reason for this one. Sometimes people just get headaches for no reason and you just have to deal with it. It sucked, but what could you do about it? So Krillin took an ibuprofen tablet and made sure to stay hydrated during the day.

The next night was a hint of nausea. That one came after Krillin had gone to a bar close to Yamcha’s apartment. The short man just assumed that he had a weaker tolerance for alcohol than he’d originally thought, reminded of when he tried to drunkenly impress this girl from a mountain village a long time ago. Krillin called it quits after just two shots of gin and carefully walked back to his boyfriend’s apartment as to not upset his stomach. Yamcha had stayed home to study a rival team’s baseball game on TV. The Taitans had an upcoming game with this group called the Olempans, so the ex-bandit wanted to get a feel for what the team’s strategy could be. Meanwhile, Puar had left earlier in the afternoon to go visit with Tien and Chiaotzu at their little farmstead. She wouldn't be back until sometime tomorrow, so the couple had the place to themselves for a while.

Krillin said nothing when he came walking in and slumped onto the couch alongside his boyfriend. The fatigue from before caught up to him again and now the martial artist wanted nothing more than to curl up with Yamcha and go to sleep. Thankfully, Yamcha seemed to agree as he pulled his lover closer to him, on the verge of sleep himself. In the end, the two men spent the night on the couch in each other’s arms, the television becoming nothing more than white noise for them.

Then morning came and everything hit Krillin like a f̷̼̫̱͉̬̈́̉̉̌͝u̶̧̧̩̪̣͋̚͘͘͠c̸̼͚̗̖̱͐̿̇̿k̴̗͖͖̝̋͐̈́̿́͜į̵̝̮̦̄̒͐̎͝ͅn̴̨̛̩̗̈́̓̕̕͜ͅg̸̝̮̝̯͈̀͌̈́̐͝ **truck**. This is where feeling the off-ness in his bones comes into play because everything inside him ached like all [hell](https://youtu.be/8yPSzTuXRW0?t=453). The fatigue, headache, and nausea were back in full force alongside what felt like the temperature of a frying pan set on fire in a volcano. It didn’t take long for Krillin to realize he was sick and it didn’t take long for Yamcha to figure that out either. He woke up with 120-ish lbs of feverish flesh on him, why _wouldn’t_ he notice if something was wrong? I mean, he wouldn't have been wrecking the bathroom pantry looking for a thermometer if that was the case.

“Holy…You’re really burning up, Krillin!” The baseball player exclaimed as he checked the cheap thermometer used on his boyfriend.

“Gee, thanks, Captain Obvious…” Krillin grumpily mumbled. Everything felt like a hazy hell where you couldn’t tell if you were still asleep or slightly conscious. The martial artist could barely focus as Yamcha scrambled around the apartment for medicine and/or other tools that could help alleviate the fever. After a while, the scarred man came back with some pills, a cold washcloth, and the designated sick bucket.

Here’s a visual on that one, in case you were wondering.

“Okay, I got this stuff here and you should keep this cloth on your face for probably…all day? Yeah, all day,” Yamcha quickly spoke as he placed the cold cloth on his boyfriend’s forehead. Krillin winced at the sudden temperature drop but relaxed a bit afterward. At least some part of him felt a bit better…

“I’ll probably have to call Coach and tell him to run the practice without me,” Yamcha mumbled to himself. He wasn’t all that good at keeping his thoughts in his head since Krillin could still hear him despite the pain he was in.

“Y-Yamcha, don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine, s-so…you can go to work,” The short man weakly reassured. But Yamcha wouldn’t budge.

“You are obviously _not_ fine, babe! The thermometer read your fever at 104°F, I can’t just leave you here alone for eight hours!” Jesus, it was _that_ high?! Krillin thought his boyfriend was just freaking out over a simple case of the flu. Even so, the martial artist stood his ground…well, as best you could while laying down on a couch.

“D-Don’t worry about it. I’ve dealt w-with stuff like this b-before…”

“No way, Krillin. I can’t risk you getting hurt while I’m that far away. What if you started coughing up blood and nobody’s here to help you?!”

Coughing up _blood_? Ugh, this was getting absurd…And Krillin’s seen some pretty absurd things in his life!

“Yamcha, it’s j-just the flu…! I don’t th-think I’ll be coughing up a-anything more than m-mucus…” He raspily argued. Once again, Yamcha didn’t budge. Instead of listening to his sick lover, the ex-bandit pulling out his cell phone to make a call.

“Sorry, Krillin, but I’m not letting you just suffer through this bug all by yourself. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” With that, Yamcha walked over to the other side of the living room as he dialed a few buttons. As the baseball player walked out of his line of sight, Krillin suddenly felt another wave of fatigue wash over him. Not an unexpected thing for influenza to cause, but _damn_ was it a staggering feeling. Within a few moments, everything was already becoming distorted and blurry…

“Look, right now I’ve got a flu crisis at my place. I gotta stay home ᵃⁿᵈ ʰᵉˡᵖ…” Yamcha’s words grew muffled until they were an indistinct sound. Krillin tried his best to fight off this weariness overtaking him but had little luck in doing anything about it. For some reason, he just suddenly felt like he hadn't slept in a week even though he's been going to bed at semi-reasonable times. Again, the flu can be one hell of a beast to deal with.

Krillin did attempt to get himself off the couch, but that just resulted in slipping and falling onto the wooden floor with a loud thud.

"ᴬʰ ˢʰᶦᵗ...ˢᵒʳʳʸ ᶜᵒᵃᶜʰ, ᴵ ᵍᵒᵗᵗᵃ ᵍᵒ. ᴷʳᶦˡˡᶦⁿ'ˢ..." Yamcha sounded like he was getting further away now. Try as he might to stay awake or move, the martial artist's body felt too heavy to do anything now. Soon, Krillin's world swirled into an inky black void as he fell straight into unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cutting up the final chapter into two parts again. Kinda having trouble getting this thing written and done, but I at least want to get an update of some kind in.

_Green skies, turquoise grass, the sound of waves crashing against land…_

_Krillin was back on Namek, but no one else was around him. No Goku, no Gohan, no Piccolo, not even a single bug or bird flitted about. There was seemingly no soul alive on this planet. Well, besides himself and…_

_And…him. That monster, Frieza, with his shit-eating grin that said: “I’m going to drown you like a sack of dumb puppies.”_

_Except the exact opposite happened._

_Krillin suddenly felt himself being pulled high into the air. He desperately kicked and squirmed around, trying to break himself from his forced ascent. But it was no good, and he simply kept rising higher and higher into the air. After a while, a burning sensation appeared in his chest._

_Then it spread to his arms, then his legs, then his neck, until everything inside and out was covered in what felt like an invisible fire. It was so unbearable and it felt like Krillin’s insides were broiling within him._

_He was scared. He’s never been so scared in his entire life until now. All he could do now was scream out to whoever could hear him._

_Even when the only one who can will just ignore him._

_“S-SOMEONE!! ANYONE!!!! **HELP ME!!!!!**” Krillin screamed as loud as his lungs would allow him._

_Then he felt his entire being burst into flames._

\- - -

“ᴷʳᶦˡˡᶦⁿ…Krillin! Wake up!”

The little man awoke with a gasp, his upper body shooting up with the force of a flying rubber band.

It took him a few seconds to register where he was and what the situation could be. Right now, it felt like he was gripping something beneath him…sheets, perhaps? This place felt warm, familiar, and squishy, so best guess was that Krillin was in a bed.

Then that means he was in Yamcha’s bedroom…When did he move from the couch to the bed? Did his boyfriend move him here?

“Krillin, can you hear me?” A soft voice asked from his left. Krillin’s sight was still a messy blur, but he had a good guess as to who this voice was.

“Y-Yamcha…?” Krillin weakly muttered.

“Babe, are you okay? You looked like you were having a pretty intense dream…” Yamcha gently rubbed his lover’s shoulder, trying to ease the tension from it as best he could. Krillin blankly stared at his boyfriend before placing a hand over his eyes and sighing.

“Ugh, you can say that again…I feel like shit…” The short man grumbled irritably.

“Do you wanna talk about it…?”

“Later…”

“…Well, do you want anything to eat? It’s after one.”

“S-Sure…”

Yamcha nodded and walked out into the kitchen. In a few moments, he came back with two oranges and a cup of water.

“I picked up some oranges from the convenience store down the street. You’ll wanna keep your Vitamin C up at times like this,” Yamcha lectured as he dropped the fruit in his boyfriend’s lap. Krillin couldn’t help but smile at the simple gesture.

“Heh, I thought you didn’t want to leave me here alone…?”

“It was just a few buildings down from this place. It’s not like I’m two hours away, batting up at the plate,” Yamcha rambled, nonchalantly pulling up a stool and peeling his own orange.

Not much else was said as the two men ate their light lunch. Krillin’s nightmare didn’t exactly make him feel like being social and he was thankful that Yamcha didn’t try to ask more about the dream whilst they ate. They’ll probably talk about it some other time, but not now. Right now, Krillin just wanted to focus on this orange and getting that shit into his stomach. That pit’s been painfully empty for _way_ too long.

Once the fruit was consumed alongside a healthy gulp of water, Krillin promptly began to get out of bed.

“Woah, wait a minute. What’re you doing?” Yamcha asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Uh…Going to the bathroom? You can’t just expect me to stay in bed all day…”

“Y-Yeah, I guess. Um, do you need help getting there?”

“Wha? No! You know I’m not made of glass, right?” Krillin was getting annoyed with his boyfriend’s overbearing. What's Yamcha's deal with this whole flu, anyway? He's acting like his boyfriend is a toothpick sculpture when that couldn't be farther from the truth!

…I mean, in terms of _human_ strength. Get Sayains and other aliens involved in this mess and it's bound to be an unfair match.

The short man sighed. This probably isn't something to get worked up about…Yamcha's just worried, that's all. Krillin would probably be worried himself if their roles were reversed. But still, the ex-bandit needs to take it down a notch.  
“I…Ugh, I’m sorry for getting snippy there, but you really need to calm down, Yamcha. I’ve been sick like this before…I can handle walking to another room myself-”

Aaaand he spoke too soon…Fuck.

Immediately upon taking a step forward, Krillin’s feet got caught into each other, causing him to once again fall to the floor with a thud. At least the bedroom floor was carpeted, but it didn’t do much to cushion the landing…or his face. I, as the author, can tell you for a fact that faceplanting into a rug or carpet hurts more than you’d imagine.

“A-Aagh…” The scratchy fabric muffled Krillin’s groan. Now he’s got two different kinds of burning pain to deal with alongside a revived headache, not to mention that it felt like his insides still felt like they were falling. As the martial artist slowly got up, he felt a pair of hands steady him by his chest and back.

“Take it easy, now. That looked pretty painful…” Captain Yamcha Obvious, ladies and gentlemen.

“So…do you still wanna walk there by yourself?” The ex-bandit had his signature smirk on, the one thing Krillin simultaneously loved and hated about the man.

“…Ugh. I love you and all, but sometimes you can be a real pain in the-” But before Krillin could finish, he suddenly slapped a hand over his mouth. Another hand gripped his stomach and you could actually see the color drain from the bald man’s face. Well, Yamcha could anyway.

“Hey, what’s wrong? A-Are you feeling okay?”

Krillin quickly shook his head. The way his eyes widened made him look like he’s seen some crazy shit (like, crazier than what’s healthy). It wasn’t a sign of good things to come, that’s for sure.

“Puke pail. **NOW**.”


	3. Chapter 3

Well, this entire day couldn’t have sucked more ass than it already did. If Krillin wasn’t as strong as he was, he thought he might’ve actually died from this damn flu. Exaggeration, I know, but that’s how he felt on the inside right now, metaphorically _and_ literally.

After the incident with the puke pail, Krillin’s guts just kept churning about for the rest of the day. He didn’t dare try eating any sort of solid foods, only drinking a bit of water or fruit juice after lunch. Couldn’t even trust the mere _smell_ of anything heavier than toast, which is what Yamcha ended up eating in the evening. He didn’t want to cause his boyfriend any more discomfort than he already had…

The only breaks Krillin got from his gut pain were the times he spent sleeping, which he was sure to take full advantage of. I believe he only got up about two times after lunch, once for some fruit juice and again for the bathroom. Luckily, he didn’t faceplant into the floor on either of those trips, so that was nice.

Sleep was pretty much dreamless for a while after the second trip, but it had to get freaky eventually. You ever try having dreams with a high fever? It either gets fuckin' _**wacky**_ or near-traumatizing and unfortunately, Krillin gets the latter kind of fever dreams.

\- - -

_He’s back on Namek again, this time just floating in the air. The emerald green ocean stretches out before him, with little islands dotted across the water. Everything is so quiet again…It makes him forget what was going on here, to begin with._

_“…ᴷʳᶦˡˡᶦⁿ…” A voice echoes out from nowhere. Krillin looks to his left and right, but nobody’s there. Did it come from below? Nope, not even from one of the islands. If not those directions, where could that voice have possibly come from?_

_Then the fighter looks up above him and discovers who the voice belongs to._

_“G-Gohan!”_

_The young boy is back in his battle armor received from Vegeta, but something else had been added to it._

_“Krillin…help m-me…!”_

_It was awful. Simply awful._

_Frieza had the poor boy impaled onto his horns and was using both hands to push him further down the black spike. Gohan screamed in pain as he tried desperately to worm away from the galactic tyrant. He kicked and flailed his legs with all his might, but it was no use. Frieza simply began rocking his head up and down in a sadistic rhythm, spewing forth blood from both wound holes._

_“Bastard…! LET HIM GO, YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!!” Krillin let out a furious roar as he quickly lunged at the alien bastard._

_Like that was ever going to work. Frieza simply smirked as he pointed a finger at the short human and fired a deadly beam directly into his heart._

_And so Krillin fell backward into the green, watery abyss and everything turned to black…_

\- - -

Krillin didn’t awaken with a loud gasp this time. It was more like a short intake of air as he felt a familiar hand moving up and down his shoulder.

“Calm down, ‘s only me,” Yamcha whispered from behind. Krillin rolled over to see his boyfriend had crawled into the bed with him. The bald man didn’t say anything, rather he promptly wrapped his arms around Yamcha’s abdomen and planted his face right into his chest. Krillin didn’t care if the sudden movement made it feel like his stomach was an in-use NASCAR track, he needed this right now and Yamcha was more than glad to hug back.

“Another nightmare?”

Krillin let out a muffled hum in response.

“…Do you wanna talk about it?”

Silence for a few seconds, then Krillin pulled back just enough to make his voice clear.

“I was back on Namek…Frieza was there…”

Yamcha frowned. He’d heard from both King Kai and friends alike about what went down on that verdant green planet. To put it simply, there was very little good and a whole lot of bad that happened to anyone even remotely related to Namek. But Krillin? Out of everything he heard, Yamcha thought his boyfriend had it worse out of their circle of friends (and Vegeta) and you didn’t need to tell him that there were some nasty side effects from that particular trauma.

“H-He rammed Gohan w-with one of his horns…I t-tried to stop him, but then he…I-I…!” Krillin’s voice trembled until his throat was too choked up to get all the words out. At this point, all Yamcha could do was hold the shorter man and comfort him as he went through the motions.

“It’s alright…Frieza’s dead now, babe. He’ll never hurt anyone again.”

“I-I know, I know…but do you know w-what it’s like to feel so…s-so _powerless_ that you can’t even protect the p-people in your dreams?”

“Yeah…I can understand that. The fever’s probably makin’ you feel even worse, too…But hey, it's gonna be okay,” Yamcha then took tilted two fingers and lightly tilted Krillin’s head up to face him.

"You're gonna be okay. I'm here for you…" Then, slowly, the ex-bandit leaned forward and gently pressed both of their lips together. He made sure to take his time with it, even though he knew the risks of kissing somebody who’s thrown up within the past 24 hours.

And once they pulled away, Yamcha leaned in for another.  
And another.  
And another.  
And another.  
And now this was getting closer and closer to a full-on make-out session than a reassuring kiss. Normally, Krillin wouldn’t complain about it, but…I mean, I'm 99% sure that the unspoken rule is that you _don’t_ make out with a victim of the stomach flu.

“Y-You idiot…You’re, mph, y-you’re gonna make yourself sick doin’ this…”

“Heh, it’s my fault for loving you so much. Mh, you’re just too cute…”

“You’re being weird again-hah!” Krillin’s reprimand was cut off by Yamcha planting a kiss right onto his boyfriend’s feverish neck, one of his many, _many_ weak spots. If Yamcha wants his partner to shut up and feel good, he always starts with the neck, much to said partner’s chagrin.

“D-Damn it, Yamcha…Sooner or later, k-karma’s gonna b-bite you in a-Ah!” The short fighter was once again interrupted, this time with a small nip to the Adam's apple.

“Less talk, just relax. Let me make you feel good, babe…”

**[And make him feel good Yamcha did ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]**

\- - -

“Man, taking that eight o’clock train was a mistake if I’d ever seen one…” Puar sighed as she entered the near-pitch black apartment. She had just spent over four hours riding what had to be the _slowest freaking train in all of existence_. Seriously, it only took about two hours by taxi to go visit Tien’s farm, so why did the train of all things take twice as long!? Because it was a stupid train, that’s why.

Ugh, Puar’s too tired to get frustrated now. All she’d like to do for the rest of the night is just curl up at the foot of her best friend’s bed and go to sleep. The shape-shifting feline probably would’ve jumped straight in without much care if she didn’t bump her whole body right into the bedroom's door frame.

“Ack! O-Ouch…”

Great, another pinch of salt to this open wound of an evening. Of all the places she could’ve gotten a bump, it just had to be her head, didn’t it? As Puar nursed the sharp ache, she glanced over to the bed and noticed two key details. One, which was atop the bed, was that Yamcha and Krillin were all cuddled up together under the sheets. They were already in a deep sleep, so they hadn’t noticed the sound of Puar hitting her head. The magic cat could help but smile at the precious sight before her.

_(Aw, how cute! If it wasn’t so dark, I’d try to take a picture of this moment!)_

Then she noticed the second detail, or rather _details_, surrounding the bed. All around the twin-sized bunk were bits and pieces of miscellaneous clothing articles. A shirt here, a pair of shorts there…and needless to say, it didn’t take long for Puar to connect the dots.

_(Oh…Ugh, guess I’m sleeping on the couch tonight…)_

You can never predict when those two were going to have their _special time_…

\- - -

The next morning began with Yamcha running straight to the bathroom and creating these gutwrenching noises for about five minutes straight. Well what do ya know, he’s got a case of the stomach flu now and hoo boy, was it hitting him like a f̴̮͈͐͠u̷͉̘͐͗c̶͍̩̋̄k̸͎͔̋̕i̵̥͙͌͠n̸̻̯͛̒g̵̰̞̔͗ ̸̠̘̏͘**t̷̰̤̏r̷̩͕͆́ŭ̷͉̬̓c̷͎̟̏͠ḵ̵̜̑̆ **or what?

“I told ya you’d make yourself sick!” Krillin yelled from the bedroom. Despite the pain he was in, Yamcha let out a cough-riddled laugh in response.

“Hehe-hugh! Y-Yeah, guess you were right, babe…!”

Oh Yamcha, never change…  
At least now, you two can spend the day in bed together. Just don't expect Puar to be too happy with your little puke-cident, though…


End file.
